Michigan football coach game planning for stout Michigan State defense

This weekend, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh looks to add another win to his season total; this time, when the Maize and Blue head to East Lansing to face the Michigan State Spartans. For the Wolverines, there is one key aspect of MSU’s defense that the team must look to overcome: the Spartans’ elite third-down defense.

Michigan football coach game planning for stout Michigan State Spartans’ defense

Jim Harbaugh has faced Michigan State eight times, heading into the game as the favorite on each occasion. That said, his 4-4 record has been a blemish on his resume for a little while now, though last year’s 29-7 win over the Spartans was an impressive showing from Harbaugh and his Wolverines.

This weekend, Jim Harbaugh gets his ninth shot at Michigan State, though unlike in years past, this year’s game has almost no hype. MSU is 2-4 overall and 0-3 in Big Ten play after last weekend’s loss at Rutgers; meanwhile, Michigan football is 7-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country, gunning for another Big Ten title and more this fall.

Jim Harbaugh gives more on the MSU defense

Still, the Michigan State defense is designed to give Michigan football fits on important downs, and Jim Harbaugh knows it.

“Michigan State has got the best third-down defense in all of college football,” Jim Harbaugh stated on the Inside Michigan Football radio show. “So it’s gonna be important — our efficiency — especially in the run game and the passing game in keeping us ahead of the sticks.

“A couple of the running plays (against Indiana), we got split into double teams when guys were trying to get up to the second level too fast, not staying on the hip and waiting for that linebacker to come to them. In the second half, we made the corrections. It was much better — a difference of two halves.”

While Michigan State and Michigan football are two programs on opposite ends of the college football spectrum right now, this weekend’s game has the potential to be a battle. The Spartans have nothing to lose, the game is at night, and it will be played in East Lansing — a deadly combo for Jim Harbaugh & company, and it’s clear the Michigan football coach knows it.

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